I recently found out that ASUS has about 20 people solely working on their keyboards. In the audio department, ASUS employs even more – 30 engineers, to be exact. “They are obsessed with being the best,” Andrew Chan, ASUS’s global product public relations manager, tells me while we’re having whisky. According to Chan the engineers constantly compare themselves to the competition and aim to do better not only in specifications but price as well.
You might want to dismiss his words as PR and marketing fluff but after putting its third generation of products through their paces, I’m beginning to think that ASUS might just have the best hardware in this generation.
ASUS ZenBook 3
Its flagship product, the new ZenBook 3 is a technical and design masterpiece. Despite weighing only 910 grams and with an ultra-thin 11.9mm profile, ASUS has managed to pack in a plethora of features, including a 512GB solid state disk, 16GB of RAM and the latest Intel Core i7 and i5 processors.
The engineering challenge comes in cooling down such a powerful laptop. The engineers had to develop a revolutionary new cooling system that is a mere 3mm thin specifically for the task. The system features a fan with liquid-crystal-polymer blades and the thinnest heat pipes I’ve ever seen – only 0.1mm thin. It’s amazing what ASUS has done in such a cramped space.
But like Chan mentions, the engineers don’t just want to pip the competition; they want to crush them. The ZenBook 3 comes with four speakers, designed in cooperation with audio specialists Harman Kardon, under the hood. That is a truly stupendous technical achievement and the sound quality is unparalleled.
ASUS Transformer 3 Pro
Sure, there are tablet-laptop hybrids already in the market but none of them comes close to the power and versatility of the new ASUS Transformer 3 Pro. Intel Core i5/i7 processors (depending on your needs), 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD, a touch-screen boasting 3K resolution, the works.
And if you need even more power for your creative work, the Transformer 3 Pro can also be connected to the ROG XG Station 2, an enclosure with additional processing and graphics rendering power, with the USB Type-C Thunderbolt 3 cable. Local leather craftsman Stone For Gold had a chance to play with the Transformer 3 Pro and told us his thoughts about it. Check it out in the video at the top of the article.
ZenPad 3 8.0 and ZenWatch 3
Benjamin Yeh, ASUS SEA’s regional director, shared with me that ASUS’s main objective is the user experience. The products that the tech behemoth creates are to enhance the user experience, and not just a stand-alone product. In that regard the ZenPad 3 8.0 and the ZenWatch 3 have achieved this. You can move your work seamlessly from one ASUS product to the next. That’s not to say that the products cannot be used individually too.
The ZenPad 3 8.0 tablet houses an eight-inch touchscreen display (hence the eight in the name) with a sharp 2K resolution as well as 4GB of RAM and a hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 processor. There is also a front and rear camera and on-board storage.
As for the ZenWatch 3, perhaps the most notable aspect is the design. With a round face crafted from 316L stainless steel and covered with Corning Gorilla Glass to withstand scratches and damages, the ZenWatch 3 has a beautiful strap made from stitched Italian leather. It also comes with an activity tracker and its own ZenFit app so that you can check your own progress through the day.